Anja is the niece of the Regent of Hamlin, Kristoff, and once she reaches her majority at 20, the future Queen of Hamlin.
She spent the first 10 years of her life being viewed as less, for the sin of being born a girl. At age five, her baby brother, Emil was born, and she spent the next five years shielding him from their father's temper and petty cruelties.
When she was ten, she began having prophetic, though sometimes cryptic visions and dreams. They were accompanied by allergies that sometimes could be used as a means of detecting who was affected by the vision.
Later in that day, her father was murdered in front of her eyes, and deep down in her soul, she rejoiced.
Over the next five years, she blossomed and grew, the visions helping to guide her uncle in his ruling.